Once upon a time and not so long ago, blogs looked like blogs and websites looked like websites. One could easily tell the difference between the two.
Then the WordPress CMS came along and revolutionized web publishing. Now, it’s getting harder to tell if a website is running on a “blogging” content management system (CMS) like WordPress, or if it’s been created using a website development tool. Not so much in terms of what the sites are being used for, but in terms of web design and also being able to tell what’s under the surface.
(Can You Tell Which Application Your Website Is Powered By?)
For many website owners, understanding the difference between a CMS application like WordPress and other website-building tools is huge, not so much in terms of the technical differences, but more importantly, in terms of the things that matter to most website owners, such as web development costs, ease of use, ability to keep the site up-to-date, managing content, etc.
Think about this …
Which of the following options would you choose?
A) An eye-catching, professional-looking website that turns out to be fairly expensive to build, or
B) The same eye-catching, professional-looking site, but at a tiny fraction of the cost of getting option ”A” above built.
If you went with option ”B” above, then you need to learn more about the benefits of using WordPress, why WordPress can give you a stunning website that could turn out to be far less expensive to build than websites built using a website building tool … and how to tell these two types apart!
WordPress is the world’s preferred online publishing platform and content management system (CMS). It is a flexible and powerful CMS that is ideally suited for small, medium and even large businesses.
Whether your reason for having a website is for personal blogging or business use, WordPress is easy enough for a newbie with no technical skills to use and manage, and offers many helpful features that make your website extremely effective in terms of getting your content published and indexed by search engines, promoting visitor interaction, generating business leads and sales, enhancing your site’s functionality, etc.
With almost one in every five websites around the world currently being powered by WordPress, chances are that if you already own a website, yours is also a WordPress site.
And if you don’t have a website yet, or are thinking of getting one built, then wouldn’t it be great to show your web developer an existing website with the design and layout that you like, know that it was built with WordPress and that you can, therefore, get a similar site built for your business for very little cost?
Is My Website Built Using WordPress? How To Tell
Do you need to know if your website uses WordPress? Maybe you’ve come here because you’ve read wonderful things about WordPress, and you’re now wondering if your site runs on the WordPress software, or some other website application.
Also, have you ever looked at a competitor’s website and wondered what they’re doing to try and get better results online?
Knowing if your competitor’s site is built with WordPress can tell you a few things about their strategies and methods, such as what themes or plugins they are using.
Here are some simple methods you can use to quickly tell if a site has been built with WordPress:
View The Page Source Code
If you know how to bring up the source code of a web page (e.g. Firefox Menu > Web Developer > Page Source if using Firefox, or Google Menu > More Tools > View Source if using Google Chrome), you can look for telltale footprints …
(View the page source code using Firefox)
Let’s say that you are surfing the web and you visit a web site that you like, and you would like to know if the site uses WordPress …
First, bring up the site’s source code on your screen, using the methods described above.
After the source code of the page loads on your screen, you can search for “wp-content” either by scanning the code …
Or use your browser’s “Find” function …
(Using Firefox’s ‘Find’ function)
This will tell you if the site runs on WordPress or not.
Note: If you cannot see the words “wp-content” in the page source code, it does not mean that you are not looking at a WordPress site.
There are other ways to find out if the site runs on WordPress, as we will soon be discussing.
As the point of this post is to help non “techies”, however, below you will find a number of easy methods you can use to check if your web site is built using WordPress other than searching the source code.
Ask Your Web Developer
While this may seem like the obvious thing to do, many website developers, for whatever reason, will build clients a website and not tell them it’s WordPress.
If you have an existing website and you can’t tell what application is driving it, just ask your webmaster or whoever built your web site if your web site was built using WordPress.
That was easy, huh?
Okay … what if you can’t get in touch with your website developer, or what if you’ve come across a website that you really like while surfing online and you need to know if it was built using WordPress?
Check Below The Footer
If the site uses a WordPress theme and the website templates have not been customized, you can often find a “Powered by WordPress” notice showing below the footer section …
(Proudly Powered by WordPress – site footer)
If the methods above haven’t helped you, here are some other ways of identifying WordPress sites …
Online Tools That Can Tell You If A Website Uses WordPress
Here are a some sites that can tell you if a website uses WordPress or not, and what themes or plugins the site uses …
Is It WP – WordPress Checking Tool
(Is It WordPress?)
Is It WordPress? is a free online tool that can tell you if a site runs on WordPress or not.
Using this tool is really easy. Just type the URL of the website into the search field and click the button.
It will search through the URL and tell you if the site was built using WordPress, and if so, which version of WordPress it is currently using …
If the site is not a WP-driven site, you will get a message similar to the one below …
To use this tool, go here:
Advanced WP Theme Checker by Satori
(WordPress Theme Detector)
WordPress Theme Detector by Satori Studio is a free tool that can help determine whether or not a website uses WordPress as its CMS engine; it will also tell you which theme the site is using and provide a link to the theme’s official page.
To use this tool, paste the URL of a web page (it doesn’t have to be the home page) into the ‘Enter website URL’ field and click on the ‘What WordPress theme is that?’ button …
(Enter website URL and click the button)
The Detector will automatically scan the website and output its theme information …
(WordPress Theme Detector displays theme results)
If a website is built with WordPress but the theme is too customized to contain any traces of its origins, the Detector will still let you know it’s a WP site by outputting a message on the right.
(Modified WordPress theme message)
If the website is not using WordPress at all, the tool will also let you know …
(This website is not WordPress)
You can try the Detector yourself by visiting this link:
Wappalyzer – Web Browser Extension (Firefox / Chrome)
(Wappalyzer – Add-On For Firefox / Chrome Browser)
If you use a browser such as Firefox or Google Chrome and would like to be able to know if the sites that you are visiting are powered by WordPress, then Wappalyzer is a very useful extension for your browser.
Wappalyzer helps you identify what type of software is installed on the sites while you are browsing.
According to their website …
“Wappalyzer is a browser extension that uncovers the technologies used on websites. It detects content management systems, eCommerce platforms, web servers, JavaScript frameworks, analytics tools and many more.”
Wappalyzer is also a very easy extension to install.
Once you have installed the Wappalyzer extension on your browser, icons will show up in your web browser allowing you to see which technologies are installed on all the sites you are visiting …
If you see the WordPress icon showing on your browser menu (as shown in the screen shot above), then the site uses WordPress.
(This site uses WordPress!)
To visit the website, go here:
SpyBar
(SpyBar – Browser Addon For WordPress)
SpyBar is a browser addon that lets you ‘reverse engineer’ any WordPress site you visit and see which WordPress plugins and themes are being used, right inside your web browser …
(SpyBar – Discover WordPress Plugins And Themes Used By Your Competitors)
SpyBar can be installed as a browser extension on Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox and is compatible with PC and Mac.
To download or learn more about SpyBar, visit the site below:
Plugin Sniper
(Plugin Sniper – Find out what plugins a WordPress site is using)
Plugin Sniper lets you find out what plugins a WordPress site is using. This is a useful tool if you want to know what WordPress plugins are being used by your competitors.
Plugin Sniper is also a useful tool for researching what kinds of plugins businesses in certain niches are using …
(Search WordPress sites by categories and location)
To download or learn more about Plugin Sniper, visit the site below:
I hope that you have found this tutorial useful.
***
"Learning WordPress has been a huge stumbling block for me. I've been looking for something that covers absolutely everything but doesn't cost an arm and a leg. Thank you so much ... you have just provided me with what I have been looking for! Truly appreciated!" - Tanya